This disclosure relates in general to correctional facility processing and, but not by way of limitation, to operation of inmate accessed computing devices.
In the current economic climate, corrections facilities are seeking more cost-effective ways to incarcerate and supervise criminal offenders. By streamlining procedures staff can use their time efficiently. Within the corrections facility, there is a range of services available from many technology vendors. Retrieving information from a variety of sources can be prolonged as it is not always readily available. There is no common way to access to a range of software services to provide useful information at the touch of a button.
Many corrections facilities have integrated software systems to automate and streamline many tasks using any number of technology vendors. These software systems do not interact well with each other or legacy software systems. Different vendors have different capabilities for auditing use of their software or perhaps a few modules they might offer. Implementation of control over a number of software systems from different vendors requires each to independently add functionality. Choreographing multiple technology vendors is difficult and results are mixed.
With the increase in prison populations and cutbacks in expenditure, staff are pressed to be more efficient with their time. Inmates have a constant need for basic information and this is predominantly provided by corrections staff. The requirement to answer the same questions day-in-day-out can be demoralizing and time-consuming for corrections staff. Inmates are also frustrated by the situation as they are highly reliant on corrections staff Response rates to inmate queries are dependent on corrections staff availability. Ideally, inmates would like immediate access to information they want without having to rely on someone else to provide it.
When dealing with high-risk offenders, staff minimize physical interaction with them. A kiosk or information center can provide much of the day-to-day information to significantly reduce the need for corrections staff to manually provide day-to-day information to offenders. Different vendors provide different kiosks such that the offenders are given access to a few information centers that require independent maintenance, configuration and support. Kiosks are not interoperable and have many overlapping functionality where each operates in a separate silo.